The MacDermot family was a wealthy society family with a large home in West Oakland.
-
Charles Francis MacDermot (1834-1898) immigrated to the United States from Ireland In the 1860s. He was married to Flora B. Main. They first lived in San Francisco before moving to Oakland. He was a merchant and later an insurance director at California Insurance Company, which was founded by his father-in-law, Charles Main. Charles Main was founder of the San Francisco pioneer saddlery and harness firm Main & Winchester; Main streets in San Francisco and Oakland are named after him.
- Louis Main MacDermot (1877-1948) was a railroad enthusiast. He created the 19 gauge Overfair Railway for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. He was married to Hortense Josephine Paul (?-1946), of Boston, in 1907. He spent his life and inherited fortune designing and building steam locomotives and died in poverty. The inherited fortune was split in a messy court battle, and "Louis was left with the old house, 54 acres of Piedmont Park, a concession from his mother’s bad loan to real estate developer Frank C. Havens, and the section of Alameda Point bearing his grandfather’s name. The grand winner was Alameda County with the largest inheritance tax purse ever collected." 1
- Flora B. MacDermot (1882-1972) was married to Frank Hunt Proctor.
- Mary Winchester MacDermot (1883-1957) was married to Charles A. Crawford 2 and later married W. Ruddle Browne. [ below refers to Mary as his older sister, and says she was a famous author. 1 She lived in Kent, England for many years and wrote books under the name M. Mac Dermot Crawford (currently on Amazon as Mary MacDermot Crawford): Madame de Lafayette and Her Family, The Sailor Whom England Feared, and Peeps into the psychic world; the occult influence of jewels and many other things.
- Alfred J. MacDermot (1887-1965)
Links and References
-
Overfair Railway Inventor on ppie100.org
-
Will Be A Brilliant Affair Boston Globe November 16, 1901
